the effect of sleep quality on the probability of human error of staff of railway traffic control rooms

Human errors cause major accidents in many industries, including railway industries. Several factors also play a role in the occurrence of such errors. The quality of people's sleep may affect their probability of human error. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of sleep quality on the probability of human error in employees of railway traffic control rooms.

Methods and Materials:

 This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2021 with 115 male employees working in railway traffic controls. In this survey, each participant completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the Self-report of Human Error Probability Questionnaire (SHEPQ). Data were analyzed using Spearman and Independent T-Test.

According to the results of the study, the mean age ± (Standard Deviation (SD)) and work experience ± (SD) of the participants were 36.57 ± (5.22) and 10.09 ± (5.66), respectively. 36.5%, 49.6%, 18% and, 21.7% of participants had 23 ≤GHQ≤ 40, PSQI> 5, ESS≥13 and SHEPQ> 50, respectively. Also, there is a significant relationship between PSQIScore and ESSScore, with the probability of human error (P<0.001, Correlation Coefficient (CC) = 0.399, P<0.001, CC = 0.412, respectively). In addition, there was a significant relationship between the mean error scores in the sleep quality subgroups (P<0.001).

According to the findings of this study, poor sleep quality is an important factor in the incidence of human error.